Rio Bravo (1959) - IMDb IMDb 17 January 2017 4:34 PM, UTC NEWS There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a cripple, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy. Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON TV a list of 26 titles created 06 Jun 2013 a list of 32 titles created 06 Dec 2013 a list of 29 titles created 10 Nov 2014 a list of 49 titles created 30 Aug 2015 a list of 25 titles created 5 months ago Search for " Rio Bravo " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin.

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 4 nominations. See more awards » Videos A Civil War veteran embarks on a journey to rescue his niece from an Indian tribe. Director: John Ford A senator, who became famous for killing a notorious outlaw, returns for the funeral of an old friend and tells the truth about his deed. Director: John Ford 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Hara. Together with an old Indian fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water. Director: Howard Hawks Dunson leads a cattle drive, the culmination of over 14 years of work, to its destination in Missouri. But his tyrannical behavior along the way causes a mutiny, led by his adopted son. Directors: Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson Stars: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.

Director: Sam Peckinpah A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo and learn something about each other in the process. Director: John Ford After the Civil War, Cord McNally searches for the traitor whose perfidy caused the defeat of McNally's unit and the loss of a close friend. Director: Howard Hawks A drunken, hard-nosed U.S. Marshal and a Texas Ranger help a stubborn teenager track down her father's murderer in Indian territory. Director: Henry Hathaway A cavalry officer posted on the Rio Grande must deal with murderous raiding Apaches, his son who's a risk-taking recruit and his wife from whom he has been separated for many years. Director: John Ford Ranch owner Katie Elder's four sons determine to avenge the murder of their father and the swindling of their mother. Director: Henry Hathaway At Fort Apache, an honorable and veteran war captain finds conflict when his regime is placed under the command of a young, glory hungry lieutenant colonel with no respect for the local Indian tribe. Director: John Ford A dying gunfighter spends his last days looking for a way to die with a minimum of pain and a maximum of dignity.

Director: Don Siegel Edit Storyline Sheriff John T. Chance has his hands full after arresting Joe Burdette for murder. He knows that Burdette's brother Nathan, a powerful rancher, will go to any lengths to get him out of jail. Chance's good friend Pat Wheeler offers to help but within 20 minutes of making the offer is gunned down in the street, shot in the back. That leaves his elderly deputy Stumpy, the town drunk Dude - once a deputy and a pretty good shot when he was sober - and a young hand, Colorado, who used to work for Wheeler. Nathan Burdette meanwhile has a couple of dozen men at his disposal. Chance does his best to prepare all the while romancing a pretty gamblers who goes by the name of Feathers. Written by garykmcd See All (128) » Taglines: John Wayne The big guy with the battered hat... and Dean Martin the ragged woman-wrecked castoff called Dude... and Ricky Nelson The rockin' babyfaced gunfisted kid...

And Time Was Running Out Through Bullet Holes At Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo" See more » Genres: 4 April 1959 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo See more » Filming Locations: Ty Hardin tried to get the role played by Ricky Nelson . See more » Goofs Saguaro cacti don't grow in Texas. See more » Quotes This movie has all the elements of the quintessential Western. 9 December 1999 | by dnwalker (United States) – See all my reviews The story itself is a composite of all the elements needed to make a great Western: good guys in white hats, bad guys in black hats, townspeople content to stand aside and to let the battle be fought between the outlaws and the man with the tin star, a beautiful woman to distract the hero and finally help him when the chips are down. The main stars, John Wayne, Dean Martin, and Angie Dickinson all turn in the top-notch performances one would expect from them, and Rick Nelson is a very pleasant surprise as Colorado. It's two others that separate this movie from other Westerns, though.

Pedro Gonzales-Gonzales, as Carlos the hotel-keeper, is a breath of fresh air. His interplay with John Wayne's John T. Chance adds a touch of human reality to the movie that sets it apart. Walter Brennan in his role as Stumpy, however, is the glue that holds the whole thing together and makes it work. His constant griping under his breath, his goading of Wayne, his dialogue with the prisoner and his general comic relief set Rio Bravo apart from any other Western and put it in a class of its own. Keenan Wynn in Eldorado doesn't even come close. 50 of 73 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Howard Hawks’ RIO BRAVO (1959) – Once upon a screen… Howard Hawks’ RIO BRAVO (1959) A man walks into a bar… Howard Hawks begins Rio Bravo with a beautifully orchestrated silent sequence. Confidence and strength are palpable as the prolific and creative director goes back to his roots in silent film to start this highly regarded Western.

A few moments of just music and visuals and I caught myself doing that cocked head gesture familiar of dogs as they look at something they seem interested in but can’t quite make out what they’re seeing. I expected standard Western fare, my least favorite genre of film as I watched Rio Bravo for the first time in order to post this – my second entry to the Howard Hawks blogathon hosted by Seetimaar-Diary of a Movie Lover . But my expectations were wrong. The “man” who walked into the bar to start the film is Dean Martin who plays Dude, the deputy of the small western town featured in the film. Dude was an ace gunslinger in days gone by, but after having his heart-broken by a women, has turned all his affections toward drink. He is fighting it but it’s a tough battle, made clear from the first instance as he walks into that bar in the very first scene clearly strung out. Very nearly broken.

In the bar he encounters Joe Burdette (played by Claude Akins ) the bad guy who takes a look at Dude and with as much disgust as he can muster tosses a coin into the spittoon so the drunkard, nicknamed “Borachon,” would have to stick his hand into the muck if he wants a drink. Humiliated but with little choice, given his desperate need, Dude gets down on his knees and just as he is about to reach into the spittoon, the jar is kicked over by a huge man, John T. Chance ( John Wayne ), the Sheriff. I have to add how striking a shot it is with which Hawks introduces Wayne in this film – shot from the perspective of the kneeling man looking up toward the overpowering figure, in this instance a father figure and throughout the film, a caretaker. Beautifully illustrated with one shot right at the beginning… Frustrated, Dude lashes out at the Sheriff and goes after the evil Burdette even though he’s clearly outgunned as Burdette is surrounded by his evil posse. Just as another bar customer tries to step in to help Dude, Burdette grabs the man and shoots him dead.

Leaving his posse to do the dirty work, Burdette walks out of that bar and into another where he is soon arrested by the Sheriff with the help of his deputy, Dude who, when necessary, shows signs of the great gunslinger he used to be. The arrest of Joe Burdette, whose brother Nathan is a rich and powerful local bad guy sets the stage for the action in Rio Bravo as it takes all the guns at the Sheriff’s disposal to keep Joe in jail because the entire town is surrounded and infiltrated by Nathan’s men vying to get Joe out of jail. Unfortunately, the entire artillery at Chance’s disposal consists of “a pin-legged old man” named Stumpy, and a drunk (Dude). In essence that is the entire plot of Rio Bravo, but Hawks compliments the standard Western story with a few wonderfully crafted character studies in subplots that focus on relationships. These are what make Rio Bravo a standout. My new favorite Western. High Noon…meh “Rio Bravo” (1959) was made because I didn’t like a picture called “High Noon” (1952).

I saw “High Noon” at about the same time I saw another western picture, and we were talking about western pictures and they asked me if I liked it, and I said, “Not particularly”. I didn’t think a good sheriff was going to go running around town like a chicken with his head off asking for help, and finally his Quaker wife had to save him. That isn’t my idea of a good western sheriff. I said that a good sheriff would turn around and say, “How good are you? Are you good enough to take the best man they’ve got?” The fellow would probably say no, and he’d say, “Well, then I’d just have to take care of you”. And that scene was in “Rio Bravo.”” – Howard Hawks That quote made me very curious about Rio Bravo albeit with a hefty dose of skepticism. Fred Zinnemann’s, High Noon is not only my favorite of Gary Cooper’s films, but also one of my favorite Westerns. (Or was until Rio Bravo shashayed into my consciousness).

Incidentally, Hawks was also not impressed with another of my favorite Westerns, Sam Peckinpah’s, The Wild Bunch saying of Peckinpah’s use of slow motion during the shoot-outs rather unbelievably, “I can kill three people and get them down to the morgue before he gets one down to the ground. Because…he accentuated everything using slow motion. I think violence is in the getting it over so fast that one hardly knows what just happened.” In a direct response to how he felt about High Noon, Hawks makes what I perceive as the central theme of Rio Bravo the idea of whether people are “good enough.” And he does so in a not-so-subtle way as the line is repeated and the question posed at several key instances throughout the film. As a comparison, one should note that the Sheriff in High Noon looks for back-up as a means to fight the bad guys in whoever would lend a helping hand. And for the record, all that Hawks says about Noon makes sense. Conversely, what we see in John T. Chance, the sheriff in Rio Bravo, is a man with much higher standards. One who doesn’t settle.

Not good enough… Passing through the threatened town one day is Chance’s old friend, Pat Wheeler (played by Ward Bond ) who arrives with his posse and is surprised to find the Sheriff up to his neck in Burdette men (did that sound right? I’m not well-versed in Western lingo). Anyway, noting his friend’s troubles, Wheeler offers Chance his help. Chance, ever the pragmatist tells his friend he’s not good enough to help, that he’d only cause him more trouble by dying. Chance is not interested in any help, he wants quality. He even turns down his long-time friend. Think you’re good enough? Dude gets a chance at redemption. Just one chance, given the grave situation the town finds itself in. Although he still has personal battles ahead. Dude and Chance are out one night scoping for bad guys, any sign of impending danger from the Burdette gang when a gunfight results. Dude “thinks” he sees one of Burdette’s men who shot at the Sheriff run into the saloon. Wanting and needing to prove himself Dude tells Chance he wants to be the one to go in and find the culprit, bring him to justice.

Chance looks at him and asks, “you think you’re good enough?” – “I’d like to find out,” he says to which the Sheriff says, “so would I.” Good enough…Dude When it’s done, a gripping and emotional encounter, the Sheriff says, “You were good in there tonight. Good as you’ve ever been.” The ultimate approval. But Dude would grapple with being up to par again, facing inner demons and severely shaky hands – a serious affliction for a deputy. ♦ I must mention Stumpy here. Played by the brilliant, Walter Brennan , Stumpy is the pin-legged old man who takes care of the jail and watches over the prisoner, Joe Burdette like a Hawk. Given the “good enough” theme, it should be noted that throughout the film we see Stumpy’s just good enough for the role he’s given, which is important but severely limited. After all, he’s an old man with a pegleg who wouldn’t be able to go a round in an honest-to-goodness gunfight. There are several exchanges and a few hurt feelings along the way when anyone so much as eludes to the fact that Stumpy isn’t as important a part of the team as the others.

But he turns out to be. And in the end that’s all that matters. Brennan’s depiction of Stumpy, by the way, is my favorite performance in the movie. I adore him – from the cackling laugh to the smart-ass remarks to the constant complaining. His role may be little more than that but I enjoyed every minute he’s on-screen. So good you don’t have to prove it Chance also uses the term, “good enough” as a sort of habit, as a response when someone tells him something he agrees with. No coincidence there. Not just small talk. Also, the fact that all of Burdette’s men are there for the money hints to their qualities – as men and as gunslingers. You do something for money then you have nothing to prove but make it to payday, it seems to me. You don’t have to be good enough. You just gotta survive and cash the gold coin. Then you have the casting of Ricky Nelson as Colorado Ryan. A relative new-comer to Wheeler’s gang, Colorado defects to backing the Sheriff basically because he’s in the right place at the right time. Colorado never commits to anything but acts definitively when he acts.

Chance admires him, the one character who, like Hawks to me, knows he’s so good he doesn’t have to prove it. And chance says so – exactly – when asked… Dude: Wonder if he’s as good as Wheeler said? John T. Chance: I’d say he is. (Pause) I’d say he’s so good, he doesn’t feel he has to prove it. According to IMDB, Howard Hawks didn’t want to cast Ricky Nelson, whom he considered to be both too young and too lightweight, and deliberately gave him the fewest possible number of lines for a third-billed star. However, he later admitted that having Nelson’s name on the poster had probably added $2 million to the film’s box office performance. Reportedly, Hawks’ first choice was Elvis Presley , who was enthusiastic about the opportunity. Unfortunately, Presley’s manager, Col. Tom Parker, wanted too much money and top billing. Yet another instance where Parker made a decision that could have changed Presley’s life. But, I’m letting my bitterness show – that’s a matter for another time.

As for Nelson, I’ll say that although he doesn’t have the wherewithal of a seasoned actor and it shows in Rio Bravo, his performance is good enough. He’s believable as a young man who respects authority, has the confidence of youth but knows not when to be worried or fearful – true traits of the very young. ♦ “John Wayne represents more force, more power, than anybody else on the screen.” – Howard Hawks To the point right before I watched Rio Bravo, John Ford’s, The Quiet Man was my favorite of John Wayne’s performances. Now this one stands as its equal in my book. I’m not generally a Wayne fan but there’s something special about his performance here that stands out and I think it’s the quiet. Note the title too of my previous favorite. Clearly, I prefer John Wayne when he doesn’t talk too much probably because he’s such an imposing figure I don’t think he needs to. His “quiet” in Rio Bravo brings a new Waynesian quality into all relationship dynamics in the film – for me. I am not in awe of this guy, I genuinely like him.

With regards to that – Howard Hawks mentioned in an interview that John Wayne asked him what he should be doing during all the scenes where Dude is suffering from the effects of alcoholism. During those scenes, which called for introspection on behalf of Martin, Wayne has fairly long periods where he doesn’t speak a word. Hawks told Wayne just to look at Martin, to remember he’s concerned and looking out for a friend (paraphrasing). Wayne does just that, carrying over the suggestion to other parts of the film with a look and a gesture where perhaps he was inclined to speak otherwise. It works, adding nuance to the power of the man, which, by the way, was purposefully emphasized by the film’s director by having the sets in Old Tucson built to 7/8th scale, so the performers look larger than life. I attributed the “softness” that I see in John Wayne as John T. Chance to the fact that he speaks less. I mean, let’s be honest aside from the distinctive John Wayne delivery I am not particularly fond of, his is also a booming voice.

But, noted in IMDB is this, “For most of the film Chance has the front of his hat turned up to make him look a little soft and friendly. However in the tough guy scenes when Chance informs Nathan Burdette that he will have Stumpy kill his brother if there is any trouble, the front of the hat is turned down, in traditional tough guy mode.” I have made a note that going forward I will look for the Wayne with the turned up hat! John Wayne and Howard Hawks made five films together and the two truly admired each other. While listening to many interviews for a previous post I did on the director, Howard Hawks in his own words , I was surprised to learn many feel it was Hawks, not John Ford who made a superstar of John Wayne. While no one disputes John Wayne became a star in John Ford films, it was the roles in Hawks’ films that brought his image into the stratosphere. Now is a good time for me to add a birthday mention to that super star. John Wayne would have celebrated his 106th birthday as I write this.

Family With respect to another theme that runs deep in many of Howard Hawks films, the idea of male bonding and long-standing friendships, Rio Bravo follows suit and goes further. The friendships here are familial as we see how the nucleus of a family is formed between Chance, Stumpy and Dude – as the former look after the latter just as members of a family look after each other. They even squabble like family and, true to all Hawksian characters, value loyalty above all else. A loyalty, by the way, that we share as the characters here also become our friends and Hawks’ rules of conduct, another of his trademarks, which they abide by become ours as well. They do the right thing because they care. There is a lot of sentimentality in this picture, a lot of heart, which brought forth another blossoming in Rio Bravo for me – as it depicts the best bromances I’ve seen in a film. Tarantino referred to Rio Bravo as one of the great hang-out movies and it is. A warm and cozy western.

♦ There’s so much to say about Rio Bravo that I find myself side-stepping my points in my own mind all the time so I can’t imagine this is in any way easy to read, but I venture forth and (briefly) mention another subplot in the film, the relationship between John T. Chance and Feathers (played by Angie Dickinson ). This relationship was the most difficult thing for me to believe in Rio Bravo. I simply had a hard time buying into a 26-year-old Angie Dickinson falling for the (I believe) 50-something John Wayne. According to IMDB, John Wayne was nervous about the love scenes between his character and Feathers in the film as well so I’m not the only one for whom this is a bit farfetched. I mean, I get it – he’s John Wayne. But still. In any case, it is what it is and I do enjoy Dickinson’s performance as this film’s version of the Hawksian woman.

Feathers is beautiful, sexy, flirtatious, tough, has somewhat of a shady past and, in the end, is “one of the guys.” I like her story arc as well – a mere passer by, for all intents and purposes, who gets involved with the Sheriff and the central action in the film. Another supporting character I have to mention is Carlos Robante (played by Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez ) the owner of the local hotel. Carlos is good friends with the Sheriff and assists him in any way he can. The most entertaining bit about Carlos, who supplies some comic relief in the film, is his proclivity toward Spanglish double-talk as he tries to explain things to people. It’s very enjoyable – particularly if one understand both languages of his double-talk. Rio Bravo is Gonzalez’ most famous role. At your leisure Of all the elements I (unexpectedly) enjoyed in Rio Bravo, nothing was more surprising to me than the pace of the film. The slow, methodical, deliberate film is long, an exploration of character with long periods without action, rather than a typical shoot-em-up western.

It’s refreshing for a film in the genre and unlike many of the Howard Hawks films I am familiar with – his comedies and crime films, which are fast in every sense. Here Hawks even includes scenes that are not necessary at all as is the case with the sing-a-long scene, which is valuable only in that it showcases the singing talents of both Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson but does absolutely nothing to further the story. Still, I love it – the lazy repose from, well, non action before the story picks up again. The only time Hawks hurries along in Rio Bravo is whenever there is violence, which brings us back to his quote pertaining to what he didn’t like about The Wild Bunch. There’s one scene in particular that stands out… Noticing the Sheriff is outside the hotel facing a bunch of bad guys all by himself, clearly outgunned, Colorado asks Feathers to throw a flower-pot out the window as a distraction when he gives her the signal. Colorado then moseys on out (note my use of a western term) onto the hotel porch and as the pot breaks the window at his signal he grabs Chance’s rifle tossing it to him as he shoots a bad guy at the same time.

Within a second all the bad guys are dead. Beautifully choreographed. I think I rewound that seventeen times. Aside from an occasional shootout, however, Rio Bravo is a film about inaction in many ways – the good guys defending against a threat in slow-motion, which is why I’m a bit perplexed as to why and how it’s so compelling a film to watch. It reminds me of a Hawks quote I included in my other post in which the director states he learned after making many films that if scenes are compelling, the film doesn’t necessarily have to make sense factually. That may well apply here in the sense that as a whole Rio Bravo doesn’t seem like a great film. Yet, I can hardly stop thinking about the many unforgettable scenes in it. In a period of a week and a half I’ve watched it three times. A first for me. For a western. My supposed least favorite genre of film. And I realize only Howard Hawks could have compelled me to do that. Only Hawks is good enough. _______________________________________________________________________________ To read more about the films, life and career of Howard Hawks, please visit Seetimaar-Diary of a Movie Lover . The diversity of the Hawksian film guarantees a great read for everyone.

I’m heading there myself – slowly prancing along the prairie. Share this: ‎Rio Bravo (1959) directed by Howard Hawks • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd 1 How do you write about perfection? Not much left to be said, so I'll just jot a few of my favorite new revelations from this viewing. -There's a great moment where Chance has a beer in his hand while talking to Stumpy and Dude keeps reaching for it and missing. the indirect punishment is most amusing. -This exchange between Nathan Burdette and Stumpy: "I see you still hold a little grudge against us." "Four hundred and sixty acres might be little to you, Mr. Burdette, but it was a lot of country to me." Stumpy's entire back history echoed in one line that is simultaneously still quite arbitrary and yet gives us all we need to know. -Echo of the… Review by fourstarfilmfan ★★★★★ I had forgotten how good Howard Hawk's Rio Bravo is. Most any western with John Wayne is easily watchable, but this film boasts a extraordinary cast including some mainstays of the genre like Walter Brennan and Ward Bond.

However, you also have some other stars that you do not associate with westerns. Namely Dean Martin, Angie Dickinson, and Ricky Nelson. Each one delivers a fun, likable, and even moving performance. This western has been allegedly labeled as an answer to High Noon since that tale was supposed to be an allegory for the McCarthy era in Hollywood. That aside the western elements are certainly good and it is an entertaining set piece. Wayne is the sheriff of a town and… 7 98/100 The ultimate hangout movie, and although I'm no Western expert, it's one of the great Oaters, clashing its free range freshness against an archetypal setting. It's refreshing to see characters actually grow and evolve instead of relying on plot to catalyze their actions, and in return, the emotional dividends that the audience receives are bursting with warmth; built out of complex undercurrents and a languid focus on setting, theme, and honest-to-god character. John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan and more form a cast that fill up each individual trait with humanity, detail, and humor.

Howard Hawks deconstructs legends and celebrities though the very act of casting, with Wayne playing a hesitant lover Sheriff, Martin a… 23 I realize I had some unfair expectations when I watched this picture last night. Having read that Rio Bravo is John Wayne's response to the "un-American" High Noon, I found myself looking for that film's gritty, real-time suspense. So when this one dragged on and on and ended in an exciting but fairly anti-climactic fashion, I walked away disappointed. But I decided to sleep on it before rendering my verdict. I also re-watched the first few minutes with the superb commentary by John Carpenter. Listening to Carpenter describe the opening sequence, which has been shot like a silent film, I understood that Howard Hawks wouldn't have let me down. After all, he made three of my favorite movies: Bringing Up… If I ever saw a man holdin' a bull by the tail, you're it. -Pat Wheeler Howard Hawks and John Wayne 's "answer to High Noon ". You could take their attitude towards the Gary Cooper classic as arrogance and a bit insulting, but to be honest in an age where every major star runs their sound bites through their PR agents I find their disdain for the film entertaining.

I don't agree with what the director and star had to say about High Noon, but their old codgery attitude towards the film made them come together and make a classic of their own. Rio Bravo doesn't contain any of the hidden context of High Noon, but it is an old fashioned… Review by lstamp ★★★½ 2017 Movie Challenge : Film #2 of 5 for the 1950s; #4 of 55 overall I should've made this a challenge to just watch John Wayne movies. He has a particular presence in all his movies, but even more so here. I noticed a few scenes where he wasn't even directly involved in the dialogue, but he still manages to draw the viewers attention more than anyone else. Of course, the rest of the cast is pretty amazing as well. While this isn't the most action packed western, the camaraderie among the main characters is some of the best I've seen.

Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, and Walter Brennan are great together and provide a lot of good stuff, both comedic and… My favourite film: Rio Bravo | Film | The Guardian My favourite film My favourite film: Rio Bravo In our writers' favourite films series , Tony Paley saddles up for a heartwarming tale of friendship and courage in the old west • Did this review miss the target? Fire away with your own attempt here – or get set for a showdown in the comments Setting the bar high … Angie Dickinson and John Wayne in Rio Bravo (1959). All photographs: Cine Text / Allstar/Sportsphoto Ltd Share on Messenger Close Move aside Hitchcock , Welles , Ozu and Ophüls . They only managed to make what I consider the greatest movies. Howard Hawks made the ones I love. Rio Bravo , not to be confused with Rio Lobo or the director's other pale imitation, El Dorado , is Hawks's masterpiece. And a weekend BBC movie matinee slot some three decades ago was a perfect introduction. Watching Rio Bravo demands the best part of an afternoon or evening and a particular frame of mind.

It is a nigh-on two and a half hour western in which the tumbleweed lazily rolls across the main street from one character to another. Of course there are shootouts, but there's also time to include a languorous duet from two late-50s celebrities – showbiz crooner Dean Martin and pop idol Ricky Nelson. And, as with all Hawks's films, lots and lots of talking. Rio Bravo Photograph: Cine Text / Allstar/Sportsphoto Ltd. / Allstar What there's precious little of is plot. Simply put, John Wayne's marshal and his bunch of misfits are guarding the jail from the lawless Burdette clan aiming to free the gang leader's brother, who is likely to hang for murder. Famously, Hawks drew his inspiration from High Noon , which he hated and in which, as the director put it: "Gary Cooper ran around trying to get help and no one would give him any.

And that's rather a silly thing for a man to do, especially since at the end of the picture he is able to do the job by himself." Hawks proceeded to "do the opposite" in Rio Bravo and the only help Wayne gets is from a drunk (Martin), a rookie teenage gunslinger (Nelson), a disabled man – a memorable portrayal by Walter Brennan – and a woman on the run from the law herself, played by a young Angie Dickinson. They answer respectively to the names Dude, Colorado, Stumpy and Feathers. Wayne is known by his surname, Chance. The use of nicknames is important. Hawks's richly drawn characters are on familiar terms with each other and, just as importantly, the audience feels close to and is rooting for them. These are people moviegoers are going to enjoy spending time with. We feel deeply involved as each of them faces up to their particular challenges. What mattered to the director was creating a world in which, as happened time and again in his movies, a group of professionals, typically men, have to prove themselves to others in that group, or gain or renew their self-respect or strive for redemption.

Those only familiar with Martin's appearance in the Rat Pack films and as straight man to the madcap Jerry Lewis will be astounded. Hawks revealed that the actor/singer, whose reputation for heavy drinking was already widely known, was "hungry" for the part, and I defy anyone not to be moved when Dude pours his "last" glass of whisky back in the bottle without spilling a drop to signify he has overcome the DTs and is ready for the climactic showdown. The same is true of the scene when Feathers breaks down with relief after she has helped save Chance, the man she loves, but only at the expense of four other men's lives. I have watched this scene and heard Feathers's speech innumerable times – and I still can't say I fully grasp its complexities. Critic Robin Wood, in his BFI Film Classics monograph on the movie , writes of the character's "existential choice". And in her exclamation "We're all fools" there's certainly an echo of another of my favourite films, Limelight .

In that 1952 movie a fading music hall star, played by Charlie Chaplin, and a suicidal ballet dancer (Claire Bloom) look to each other to salvage some hope and give meaning to their lives. "We're all amateurs," declares Chaplin at one point. "We don't live long enough to be anything else." Rio Bravo Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar The idea that friendships, underlined and shaped by our choices and actions, give our lives meaning is central to Rio Bravo too. Brennan's Stumpy, for the most part a comic foil to the film's stars, has a similar role to his one in Hawks's To Have and Have Not in that, in both, he is utterly loyal to those who have taken a stand – in the earlier film against Nazis in occupied France; here in opposition to rapacious land baron Nathan Burdette. "Four hundred and sixty acres might be little to you, Nathan, but it was a lot of country to me," he says, in answer to the villain's suggestion he bears a grudge. If all this makes Rio Bravo sound like a po-faced treatise, that is most definitely not the case.

Hawks's movies took in every major genre from gangster ( Scarface ) to sci-fi ( The Thing from Another World ), film noir ( The Big Sleep ) to musical ( Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ), but can broadly be categorised as either comedy or adventure films. Compelling cases have been made for each in the case of Rio Bravo. It is one of the film's lasting delights, and evidence of Hawks's supreme achievement, that it switches effortlessly between both. As in similar Hawks movies, such as Only Angels Have Wings and indeed To Have and Have Not, where the threat of death is a constant backdrop, the tension is palpable but Rio Bravo effortlessly segues from a scene in which Wayne and co are in the most danger to the funniest, when the sheriff mockingly kisses Stumpy after he has complained he never gets any thanks, and Brennan reacts by whacking Wayne on the backside with a broom. Rio Bravo Photograph: kobal Hawks also makes Feathers's pursuit of "John T" Chance as enjoyable as any movie seduction in the era of the Hays code . No other director had such fun with the sex war or subjected his male leads to such indignities at the hands of their female counterparts.

(Think Cary Grant in Katherine Hepburn's flouncy dressing gown in Bringing Up Baby ; Rock Hudson's humiliations in Man's Favourite Sport? ; or Grant, again, wearing women's clothes in I Was a Male War Bride .) Hawks clearly relishes the games he plays with the Wayne persona and Chance's flummoxed reaction to Dickinson's pursuit. Over the course of Rio Bravo we are treated to an entertainment masterclass, a high watermark of Hollywood cinema in its heyday. I may not go as far as Quentin Tarantino, who declared that he would show the film to any new girlfriend and end the relationship if she did not declare her undying love for Hawks's classic, but it is the movie I return to again and again, to revisit old friends and remind myself what form optimism takes in a work of art. The lasting influence of Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo | Den of Geek Search The lasting influence of Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo was a classic Western, and influenced a legion directors, including John Carpenter. Aliya looks back... j Remakes are part and parcel of the movie world, but it’s unusual for the same director to remake his own work. Rio Bravo is unique.

Director Howard Hawks remade it, not once, but twice, and with the same lead actor every time – John Wayne. And after that, the film went on to influence a number of other directors, resulting in some brilliant movies that owe a great deal to this 1959 Western about a cowboy, a sidekick, and a drunkard who choose to make a stand in the name of justice. Rio Bravo has an interesting origin – it was made as a reaction by Hawks and Wayne against what they perceived as the anti-Americanism of High Noon, where the Sheriff (played by Gary Cooper) asks for help to fight outlaws, and is rejected by the townsfolk until he stands alone. Rio Bravo posits that the opposite would happen in American society – the hero does not ask for help. He doesn’t need it. He stands for justice, and the townsfolk line up to help him as best they can. The weak will be protected by the strong. No matter where you stand on the political aspects of the film, it is a great example of both Hawks and Wayne doing what they do best.

Hawks made some of the most entertaining films of the 1930s and 40s, including Only Angels Have Wings, Bringing Up Baby, and To Have And Have Not, and he had a style of his own that is often unappreciated for its simplicity. Never a fan of the close-up, he preferred shots where the relationships between the characters and the locations were highlighted. Rio Bravo shows us actors framed in windows or doorways, so we see them in a wider setting and build up our own sense of the geography of the small town – the saloon, the jailhouse, the long dark street that connects them. These shots establish the action so well; we know that there is nowhere to run when the showdown starts. The characters are also a great strength of the film. John Wayne never looked particularly sexy, but Angie Dickinson works so hard as Feathers, the smitten love-interest, that you buy it. Wayne’s character, John T Chance, looks poleaxed by her attentions, which gives him a charm that sometimes eluded him. There are other great performances, particularly from Dean Martin as Dude, the drunk who has to sober up, and Ricky Nelson as Colorado, the young gunslinger.

Hawks asked Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett to write the script; Leigh Brackett was a science fiction writer who turned to film and worked on scripts such as The Big Sleep (with William Faulkner) and The Empire Strikes Back. She was involved with all three versions of Rio Bravo that Hawks made, and she had a gift with dialogue that shines through. Experience tells us that remakes are usually inferior. Why, then, should anyone sit through Hawks’ remakes of his own film? He made El Dorado in 1966 and followed it with Rio Lobo in 1970. All three films have the same plot, same writer, and Wayne plays pretty much the same character (although the name changes) in all three. Yet El Dorado is great and Rio Lobo – well, it remains watchable, if only for Wayne. El Dorado is a lot of fun, and this is mainly due to the casting. Dean Martin is replaced by Robert Mitchum, and Mitchum is wonderful in it: funny, tragic, and dangerous, all in one performance. And Colorado becomes Mississippi, played by James Caan – a knife-wielding cowboy out for revenge.

Also, Ed Asner and great character actor Arthur Hunnicutt make appearances in El Dorado. Is it as good as Rio Bravo? For me personally, James Caan is better than Ricky Nelson. But the dialogue and the tension in Rio Bravo is terrific. I can’t choose between them. Rio Lobo is less successful, I think, mainly because of the casting, but also the direction seems less sharp and the thrill of the situation is not present in the same way. In Rio Lobo, the role of the young sidekick is played by Christopher Mitchum (Robert Mitchum’s son) and he looks uncomfortable, particularly with his love-interest, Jennifer O’Neill, who gives one of those stilted performances that makes you wince. It’s far from Howard Hawks’ finest work. It’s the same script, more or less, but this time around it feels tired. And no wonder – by then Hawks was 74 years old and Wayne was 63. And then, once Hawks had given up on his theme, John Carpenter picked up where he left off. In 1976, at the age of 28, Carpenter made his second film, called Assault On Precinct 13.

I’m a big fan of Carpenter, and part of that is his long-term devotion to Howard Hawks, and Rio Bravo in particular. He updated the story and mixed in a dollop of Night Of The Living Dead and Once Upon A time In The West, and called it ‘The Anderson Alamo’ initially – this version was written under the pseudonym John T Chance, which is the name of John Wayne’s character in Rio Bravo. When it was made as Assault On Precinct 13, it was a great, pared script, with that scary lack of motivation given to the antagonists, and a cruelty mixed in, particularly towards children, that remains very powerful. There’s a famous scene at an ice cream van that is shudderingly horrible. Other great elements include the score, a distinctive synthesiser sound that becomes synonymous with Carpenter. But the set-up – a dark street, a sense of threat, a few people trapped in a building, facing insurmountable odds, relying on each other to get through – is pure Rio Bravo.

Assault On Precinct 13 (named by studio executives who hadn’t noticed that the action took place in Precinct 9) is a great pastiche film, made by a director who obviously loves the original movies and has updated and incorporated the original elements with care. This trick was repeated again, with exactly the same source material, in Florent-Emilio Siri’s 2002 French film, The Nest. Made with real panache, The Nest follows three police officers who are transporting the head of an Albanian mafia family to a high-profile trial in Strasbourg. Simultaneously, a likeable group of thieves are planning to rob a warehouse. When the police convoy is attacked, both cops and robbers (along with two security guards) are trapped in the warehouse, with a long night ahead of them. The Nest brilliantly references a number of films. There are elements of Platoon and Reservoir Dogs in there. The laconic security guard has a strong cowboy element, and the team of thieves hum the theme tune to The Magnificent Seven to themselves. It channels the spirit of Rio Bravo but also incorporates the more bloody elements of Assault On Precinct 13, including the murder of a child.

It’s also impossible to watch it and not think of James Cameron’s Aliens – I don’t want to ruin the fun of spotting these moments, but I have to mention the great female character who bears a remarkable resemblance to Vasquez. The homage to so many great films doesn’t mean this is a mash-up without its own style. The Nest may have a slow build-up at times but once we get in the warehouse, it’s an excellent thriller that incorporates a European setting very successfully, and involves us fully in the action. And so Rio Bravo rides again, continuing to appear in modern movies, influencing the work of a new generation of filmmakers, and I’m always glad to spot it, in such films as Attack the Block, Natural Born Killers, and From Dusk Till Dawn. It remains one of my favourite Westerns, and Hawks one of my favourite directors. He had a gift for knowing what made a film memorable. It certainly worked with Rio Bravo. Angie Dickinson | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie twitter Biography by Hal Erickson Born in Kulm, North Dakota and educated at Glendale College and Immaculate Heart College, Angeline Brown acquired her professional name Angie Dickinson when she married college football star Gene Dickinson.

A beauty contest winner, Dickinson entered films with an unbilled bit in the 1954 Warner Bros. musical Lucky Me . Her earliest films consisted mostly of "B" Westerns (at one point, she dubbed in actress Sarita Montiel 's voice in 1957's Run of the Arrow ) and television ( Dickinson was rather nastily murdered in very first episode of Mike Hammer). She moved to the A-list when selected by Howard Hawks to play the female lead in Rio Bravo (1958). The film gave Dickinson ample opportunity to display her celebrated legs, which, for publicity purposes, were reportedly insured by Lloyd's of London. She went on to star in films both famous and forgettable: one of the roles for which she is best remembered is as the mistress of gangster Ronald Reagan (!) in The Killers (1964). In 1974, Dickinson jump-started her flagging career as the star of the TV cop drama Police Woman , which lasted four seasons and represented a tremendous step up in popularity for Dickinson .

On that program, the actress played Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson, an undercover agent with the LAPD's criminal conspiracy division, whose assignments nearly always included donning a crafty and sexy guise in order to nab an underworld criminal. At about the same time, Dickinson also moved into motion pictures and (after years of consciously avoiding nude scenes), went au naturel for exploitation king Roger Corman in that producer's depression-era romp Big Bad Mama, which unsurprisingly became a cult favorite. (Years later, in 1987, she teamed up with Z-grade shlockmeister Jim Wynorski for New World's Big Bad Mama II). Brian DePalma's Psycho-influenced thriller Dressed to Kill (1980) brought the actress greater visibility, and like the Corman assignments, required Angie to do erotic nudity (though in this case, the below-the-waist shower shots were reportedly performed by a body double).

In later years, Dickinson leaned more heavily on starring and supporting turns in made-for-television productions, including a telemovie follow-up to Police Woman , Police Woman: The Freeway Killings (1987); the Oliver Stone miniseries Wild Palms (1993); the direct-to-video thriller The Maddening (1995) (opposite longtime friend and colleague Burt Reynolds); and the prime-time soaper Danielle Steele's Rememberance (1996). The next decade found the septuagenarian actress unexpectedly returning to A-list Hollywood features, albeit in small supporting roles; these included Duets (2000), Pay it Forward (2000) and Ocean's Eleven (2001) (in a cameo as herself, nodding to her involvement in the original). Angie Dickinson was married to composer Burt Bacharach from 1965 to 1980. Movie Highlights Factsheet Entered a local beauty contest in 1952 while working as a secretary. Launched her TV career on New Year's Eve 1954 with a part on an episode of the Western anthology series Death Valley Days.

Breakout movie role was in the 1959 Western Rio Bravo alongside Dean Martin and John Wayne. Appeared in the Rat Pack's 1960 comedy-drama Ocean's Eleven. Had a guest-starring role as brassy Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson in a 1974 episode of the popular crime-anthology series Police Story. She garnered so much critical acclaim that the spin-off Police Woman was created for her later that year. Was the original choice to play Krystle Jennings Carrington on the popular nighttime sudser Dynasty, but declined the role. Linda Evans took the part. Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1987. Walked off the set of This Is Your Life and refused to do the show after being selected as an honoree in 1993. Daughter Nikki had Asperger's syndrome her entire life but wasn't officially diagnosed until she was an adult. Nikki committed suicide in 2007.

Question: Who played the female lead in Howard Hawks' 1959 film 'Rio Bravo'?
Answer: Angie Dickinson